billski
Active member
After a nice mellow Saturday at MRG with my daughter, early-bird Bill chose to slip out early for a morning seeking some mellow runs on Mansfield while everyone else chose to sleep in. For some reason I was feeling really wiped out (like recovery from a day of torture in a shopping mall) I was no-so-secretly in search of some pow, after a few ventures into the MRG woods convinced me that all is good in treeland, at least in the northern spine of the Greens.
From the house we had watched the Saturday fireworks and the groomers which ran on Mansfield all night long.
So I thought I'd start with some blue cruisers to warm up. Warm up was the day's operative phrase. 2 degrees at the base, minus five at the summit. Ah, but the true elixer was gorgeously clear skies, intense sunshine and zero, yes, zero winds. A puff here and there across the summit but hardly even noticeable.
By choice, I've never skied on MLK weekend, so I was uncertain what to expect. The blues down from the Gondola were in much better shape than I had expected. It had an regular scratchy base, with a couple inches of what appeared to be fgr mixed with the new snow from Friday; heavy, but dry stuff. The crowds were slow to build in the morning, but very noticeable on the blues. The skills of the skiers on blue trails seemed to be predominated by a lot of very tentative blues, perhaps their first day out in a year. Lots of scraping and skidding.
I made my way then over past the quad and stopped under the Lookout double. What a stash. A good 5 to 6 inches of somewhat chopped up powder under the lift. A brief dash of untracked was always to be found. It was a keen surprise to find this stash on the second day of MLK weekend. It usually stays in good shape because it's very "hard", or should I say "complicated" to get to. See pics below.
The blue trails surrounding the mountain triple as well as Ridgeview and Lord were not too good IMO. It seemed that nearly everyone was on them and the scrape-scrape skid-skid sounds were pervasive. It was certainly ski-able, but not that enjoyable, especially with the volumes of skiers on it. There was very little loose stuff to push around, even at 10AM. While I had been looking for a mellow day on blues, I quickly abandoned that strategy and moved to the blacks.
The blacks were probably the best shape of all. I enjoyed Hayride the most. Lots of powder to move around, real moguls in their infancy forming and trails nearly devoid of skiers.
The powder-hound in me then took control and I spent the remainder of my time exploring the woods throughout Toll Road. Fresh untracked everywhere and the woods, at least from mid-mountain on down (I was solo that's the limit) were a delightful surprise only a week and change after the niar disaster. The woods were generally boot deep, a lucky spot here or there was just below the knees. I did not hit ice or bottom anywhere. I think we are good to go for a long woods season (cross fingers.) No pics in the woods, I was having too much fun.
Liftlines were non-existent on the double and singles on the quad were about 7-10 minutes around 1030am.
Ski Patrol was in full response mode everywhere I skied. Lots of sleds in motion. Tremendous response to skier down: 3 patrollers plus one patroller with a sled, followed shortly by Stowe staffer in blue with an name tag (attorney perhaps?) seemed to be the drill.
No joy on AZ 6-13 radio. Many calls, no answers. The day was wrapped up at noon after a reminder radio call that lunch was served.
Upper Perry Merrill (Thanks to deadhead for the correction!)
Perry Merrill (mid)
Old "Crossover" which was renamed "High Road" (Thanks to powderfreak for the ID on the 2nd and 3rd photo)
The growing industri-plex called Spruce
Lookout:
Upper Hayride
You can always make fresh track on groomers at Toll House:
From the house we had watched the Saturday fireworks and the groomers which ran on Mansfield all night long.
So I thought I'd start with some blue cruisers to warm up. Warm up was the day's operative phrase. 2 degrees at the base, minus five at the summit. Ah, but the true elixer was gorgeously clear skies, intense sunshine and zero, yes, zero winds. A puff here and there across the summit but hardly even noticeable.
By choice, I've never skied on MLK weekend, so I was uncertain what to expect. The blues down from the Gondola were in much better shape than I had expected. It had an regular scratchy base, with a couple inches of what appeared to be fgr mixed with the new snow from Friday; heavy, but dry stuff. The crowds were slow to build in the morning, but very noticeable on the blues. The skills of the skiers on blue trails seemed to be predominated by a lot of very tentative blues, perhaps their first day out in a year. Lots of scraping and skidding.
I made my way then over past the quad and stopped under the Lookout double. What a stash. A good 5 to 6 inches of somewhat chopped up powder under the lift. A brief dash of untracked was always to be found. It was a keen surprise to find this stash on the second day of MLK weekend. It usually stays in good shape because it's very "hard", or should I say "complicated" to get to. See pics below.
The blue trails surrounding the mountain triple as well as Ridgeview and Lord were not too good IMO. It seemed that nearly everyone was on them and the scrape-scrape skid-skid sounds were pervasive. It was certainly ski-able, but not that enjoyable, especially with the volumes of skiers on it. There was very little loose stuff to push around, even at 10AM. While I had been looking for a mellow day on blues, I quickly abandoned that strategy and moved to the blacks.
The blacks were probably the best shape of all. I enjoyed Hayride the most. Lots of powder to move around, real moguls in their infancy forming and trails nearly devoid of skiers.
The powder-hound in me then took control and I spent the remainder of my time exploring the woods throughout Toll Road. Fresh untracked everywhere and the woods, at least from mid-mountain on down (I was solo that's the limit) were a delightful surprise only a week and change after the niar disaster. The woods were generally boot deep, a lucky spot here or there was just below the knees. I did not hit ice or bottom anywhere. I think we are good to go for a long woods season (cross fingers.) No pics in the woods, I was having too much fun.
Liftlines were non-existent on the double and singles on the quad were about 7-10 minutes around 1030am.
Ski Patrol was in full response mode everywhere I skied. Lots of sleds in motion. Tremendous response to skier down: 3 patrollers plus one patroller with a sled, followed shortly by Stowe staffer in blue with an name tag (attorney perhaps?) seemed to be the drill.
No joy on AZ 6-13 radio. Many calls, no answers. The day was wrapped up at noon after a reminder radio call that lunch was served.
Upper Perry Merrill (Thanks to deadhead for the correction!)
Perry Merrill (mid)
Old "Crossover" which was renamed "High Road" (Thanks to powderfreak for the ID on the 2nd and 3rd photo)
The growing industri-plex called Spruce
Lookout:
Upper Hayride
You can always make fresh track on groomers at Toll House:
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